I've been aware of Japanese animation since the early 90s, but I didn't get any actual exposure to it until seeing G-Force (yes, G-Force, the mid-80s one) on Cartoon Network and snippets of Gall Force on Sci-Fi after we got cable in '95, same goes for Dominion Tank Police and 8-Man After. Sailor Moon in '96, Samurai Pizza Cats and Dragonball Z that fall, Voltron the following spring when Toonami premiered on St. Patrick's Day '97, Robotech about a year later, and so on. I'd also look around the anime sections in Blockbuster and Suncoast for years before ever being able to watch anything stocked there.

Just like everybody it was definitely Pokemon though I've long since come to dislike the series aloooot because of the fact that every single episode literally follows the exact same story structure over and over again. Ash meets a pokemon trainer with a problem, team rocket shows up to steal Pikachu and this other pokemon for some reason, the two defeat team rocket and consequently the pokemon of the week overcomes its weakness or problem and Ash moves on to come across yet again another troubled pokemon. Cue repeat.